Airline Miles Redemption, Part IV

In the wee hours of the morn, I phoned the Alaska Airlines Reservation Desk for the fourth time in an attempt to use Darr's airline miles. And just when we thought it wasn't going to work out - success!

Not only did June, the woman at the other end of the phone, find us a flight in the month we were hoping to travel (i.e., September) she also got us the first class seats we were looking for! Okay, so we didn't make it to our original destination, Auckland, New Zealand - and that is a shame as it would have been cool to tour Middle Earth - she did get us to Prague and Italy. Woohoo!

Our circuitous route begins at PDX. From Portland we travel to Seattle to catch our flight with British Airways, the Alaska Airlines Miles Partner who was kind enough to offer up two (count 'em - two!) first class seats to Prague via London. It is our responsibility to get our butts to Milan in time to catch our flight home on the 24th of September. I figure we'll spend a week in Prague, catch a train to somewhere (Switzerland? Austria?), and spend the last four days in Milan - shopping, eating, sightseeing etc.

Now the search for hotels begins...

A January Weekend Pictorial

We watched Numbers on Friday evening while Darren did his math homework. Yippee - math!

On Saturday morning the Crumpler bag for our camera arrived - woohoo!

Beauty the wonder dog ventured to the park.

While walking home we considered getting something tasty from a local bakery.

Then we discovered wisdom on a sign.

We headed over to the dog trainer's after Darren was done with his class.

It's me and Beauty the wonder dog.

Beauty the wonder dog's class. This was a meet-and-greet with the trainer.

Darr snapped this when we were on our way to his dad's house. Cool, eh?

After chowing with the family, I left for a girls' night at Sara's house. Here's the main attraction.

We discovered Mabel in the closet on Sunday morning.

Darr and Ellie hatched an evil plan to hijack the Mona Lisa.

We checked out the wingspan of Beauty the wonder dog's ears Sunday evening.

Ellie played with her catnip carrot. She loves the camera.

And Mabel sniffed the catnip eggplant.

Yes, it's an exciting life here at the Glynn-Gilroy household. We're clearly having fun with our digital camera, though. If this was taken with my regular camera, it'd be another month or two before I finished the roll and took it in to be developed. Not to mention the time it takes to scan the photos and upload them onto Blogger...

Digital Happenings

Our Canon PowerShot SD400 Digital Elph arrived today. Shortly after I got home, Beauty the wonder dog and I headed out to take the little camera for a test drive. Unfortunately, we're still in winter and I didn't bother to read the instructions so when it got too dark and I wanted to turn off the flash to digitally capture the Portland night I couldn't figure out how to do it. Damnit! <insert shaking fist here> But I did get some shots, which I have added to this post so you can see my dog and my neighborhood as I saw them on the 24th of January at approximately 5:30pm in the evening.







Bertie Lou's - the best breakfast joint in Sellwood. Followed by Beauty the wonder dog. A neon sign in the local liquor store because hey, who doesn't like liquor?! Spoiled Rotten - my Sunday job. A sign in the window at one pub in the area Darren has visited but I have yet to frequent, the Skybox Pub & Grill.

Darren has informed me that the first pic of Bertie Lou's is too dark to see on a regular PC. <sigh> All I can say is that the photo looks fine on a Mac. I'll eventually get my hands on Photoshop and do the necessary tweaking so those pitiful souls without fabulous Apple products can see what I do.

Note: Digital Happenings Revisited
I took a few minutes out of my work day (I was on a break!) and with just a few clicks in Photoshop was able to tease out a little more of the detail in the Bertie Lou's photo. Here's a closer version of what I saw last evening while Beauty the wonder dog patiently waited for me to take a picture of this little gem of a breakfast spot.

Brunch with the Bickels

We met the Bickels for brunch at Bluehour this morning. We ate some tasty vittles (I had the standard eggs and potatoes, Darren the eggs Norwegian, Sara the Croque-Monsieur sandwich, and Josh the Bluehour hash) and chatted for about an hour and a half before heading our separate ways. The service folks were attentive but a little standoffish. The restaurant was practically empty when we arrived but was starting to fill up as we left. I'm guessing the traditional Sunday bruncher doesn't usually walk through the door until noon.

We walked down to DWR after our appetites were sated and purchased a coffee table. Yippee! We also ordered a bedside table for Darren and checked out the baby furniture. (We aren't trying or expecting but we are in preparation mode.) DWR has a new line for kids that includes the Stokke crib, which is way cooler in person than it is in print, plus some super cute pastel colored chairs and the Bugaboo stroller (my favorite).

Portland has a professional lacrosse team? Who knew?

Woohoo! Darren, me, and 9,914 fans got to see the Portland Lumberjax win their first home game ever against the Colorado Mammoth. (The score was 12-11.) Neither Darren nor I know much about lacrosse but it isn't hard to figure out the most important stuff, like to score the ball must be thrown in the appropriate goal and the players can use their lacrosse sticks to strike members of the opposing team. There was one impressive fight that broke out late in the game that had referees sending three players (one Mammoth, two Lumberjax) to the penalty box. Fights are cool.

Click Portland Lumberjax to learn more about the team and click Ticketmaster to purchase tickets for upcoming games. Parking can be a bitch so consider using alternate transportation. Darr and I rode the bus to the Rose Quarter and caught a taxi home - living in Portland rocks!

Airline Miles Redemption, Part III

At 8:30am I contacted the Alaska Airlines Reservation Desk and got yet another "no". (See the pattern being established here?) The operator did explain a new facet of the process to me, so the call was not completely useless. Here's the information as I understand it:

The airline allows a person to book travel a set number of days in advance, for Alaska Airlines this is 330 days out. I called asking for December travel and was told that they can book a trip for us on Dec. 17th or before - assuming they find open seats - but that they are unable to book a return flight until the return flight dates fall within the 330 days. Nice twist, eh?

I'm pretty confident the airline does not want to assist me to fly anywhere for free. My belief that the situation will end as I desire diminishes with every call...

Airline Miles Redemption, Part II

The second attempt to book travel by redeeming airline miles was unsuccessful. Again, I used the polite and friendly "ah shucks, I'm just trying to have a nice vacation" voice but it didn't budge the ladies at the other end of the line, whom I'm beginning to suspect ARE the "No" folks illustrated in the Capital One commercials Darren referred to.

What I find most interesting is that even flying business class the folks at the reservation desk can get us to Auckland, New Zealand but they can't find us a flight home. Is this a deliberate ploy to keep us from using our miles? Are they using the "wow, we'd really like to help but we can't find you a flight home" routine like I'm using my "ah shucks" routine?

I was given notice during the first phone call that the December tickets for Cathay Pacific will be open for booking soon. I'll report back after the third call.

Airline Miles Redemption Update - The Airline Responds

Just under the 48-hour deadline, I received the following reply from the Alaska Partner Desk:

Dear Mr. Gilroy,

Thank you for using Alaskaair.com Partner reservations. Unfortunately, there are no award seats available for your desired destination and dates of travel, on any of our partner airlines. If you have additional dates or destinations please submit a new request at your earliest convenience or contact the Partner Desk directly at 1-800-307-6912. Please be advised that the only date I saw available for the return was on September 17th, I did check up to October 3rd. By chance have you tried contacting Qantas Airways? They are our only partner that you actually have to contact directly to book award travel using your Alaska Miles. Just in case here is there number 1-800-227-4500. Please let them know you will be using your Alaska Airlines miles. If you are an MVP/MVP Gold, please use the Partner Desk phone number on the back of your MVP card.

If you are requesting space for domestic travel on American Airlines you can also shop and book award seats online at Alaskaair.com. Click on Mileage Plan at the top of the page, then select Award Reservations.

Please do not reply to this email as we can only process new award requests at this Web address.

Thank you,
Bobbie L.
Alaska Partner Desk

Things to note:
1. I removed the full name of Bobbie L. because I don't know who Bobbie is but I'd doubt she (I assume the feminine gender because of the "ie" ending) would appreciate her name splashed over the internet when the poor thing is just doing her job.

2. I have previously contacted Qantas Airways and they are also lacking in available seats, which works just fine as we really want to fly with Cathay Pacific after reading the Forbes review of their airline service.

This means, of course that the plight of trying to redeem airline miles continues. The next step is to take Bobbie's advice and call the number on the back of Darr's Alaska Airlines MVP/Gold card. I shall return with notes on that assuming I don't get frustrated and hang up while waiting to speak with a live person.

It's a Boy!

We had to share the news...
The Motons (Jyla, Bobby, Brutus the dog, and the three cats) are expecting a baby boy to join their family this June. This is the first grandchild for the Gilroy clan, but on the Glynn side this little kid is the fifth nephew!

Airline Miles Redemption Update

As part of the process I have completed the online Partner Reservation Request Form on the Alaska Airlines web site. The site advises I will receive an e-mail from a "travel partner agent...within 48 hours" with the results. Does anyone think the results will include two tickets to New Zealand? As hopeful as I am, I have my doubts.

Airline Miles Redemption, Part I

The journey to redeem Darr's airline miles began last night when I made my first call to Alaska Airlines. I had a lovely conversation with the lady at the other end of the line, but ultimately this yielded nothing after 20-25 minutes on the phone, not including the hold time before I reached a person. I'm convinced I can persevere and get the vacation we deserve given the amount of money Darren has spent on travel the last few years. We've got a few different dates and a couple locations in mind so it is not as if we are being totally rigid and expecting the airline to bend over backward for us. Here's the breakdown:

Possible vacation spots include: New Zealand or Italy and Prague
Possible vacation dates include: 9-25 September and 17 December-3 January (dates chosen to work around Darr's school schedule)

I've decided to chronicle this process on the blog because, well, I'm sure it will be laborious and taxing and stressful, particularly after I reach my breaking point (I estimate this will happen around the sixth or seventh phone call) and this is a good way to alleviate the pressure. For the first attempt I was polite, jocular, and friendly. While the lady seemed to appreciate my positive attitude, I still got the "no" answer. Darr, in the background, was there to mention that this is what the Capital One "No" commercials with David Spade are all about - saying "no" to whatever request is made. I'm hoping this is not the case.

The second call is scheduled for next week. To be continued...

The Opposite of Peace

The tagline at Chuck E. Cheese's is "Where a kid can be a kid." What the clever advertising folks fail to mention is that it is also where an adult will take a fork and shove it directly into his or her eyesocket.

Darren and I ventured to Mr. Cheese's for the first time last Saturday to celebrate my nephew's third birthday (Happy Birthday, Jackson!). Saying we were unprepared doesn't quite capture the moment or explain the horror that met us upon entering the facility. The whole place is like one of those video games that gives kids seizures. There is a veritable smorgasbord of activities, which is appreciated as it is obviously a place for kids, but it sucks just a little if you aren't a kid. As dinks, Darren and I were left to sit shellshocked in a booth until we achieved a level of numbness that made interaction with other humans possible. Darren was too befuddled to find and purchase the alcoholic beverages we heard were available and that he set off in pursuit of shortly after our arrival. That being said, we did have a good time. Jackson is adorable and was all too happy to chow on some pizza, tear into his presents, and eat cake. It would be remiss of me to sign off without relaying the wisdom I gained from this experience so here goes:

1. Never host a party for your kid at Chuck E. Cheese's.
2. Never drag childless people to a party you decide to host at Chuck E. Cheese's.
3. If you do host a party at Chuck E. Cheese's and you do invite your childless friends, do not let them arrive until they take sedatives or drink alcoholic beverages.

To be fair, though, the employees at Mr. Cheese's were awesome - polite, attentive, and friendly. They deserve many kudos for their hard work.

Here are some pics of my nephew's birthday party - isn't he adorable?!

Nothing like cake with sugary icing an inch thick.

Say "pizza"!

Woohoo! Gifts!

Saying Goodbye to 2005

The Gilroys traveled vast distances to celebrate New Year's Eve with the Dormers in Seattle. Yes, Darren and I dropped Beauty the wonder dog at her grandpa's house for the weekend, fed and watered the cats, jumped into Sophie, and headed north. Approximately three hours later we were ushered into the newly remodeled Dormer residence where we were immediately offered drinks - woohoo! It was, after all, New Year's Eve. The drinking was followed by the eating, which we didn't stop doing until we left their house. It was essential to feast as much as possible before 2006 (our consuming bad food deadline). We were quite successful in this endeavor, thanks to the cream puffs, borscht soup, cheese blintzes, mashed potatoes, bacon, etc. provided by our lovely hosts. (We are now back on the trying-to-eat-healthy-and-exercise-regularly kick. )

Shortly before midnight, we hopped in the car - Richard hadn't been drinking...much - and headed to this park (I can't remember the name) where hundreds (?) of people gathered to watch the fireworks being shot off the Seattle Space Needle. Thankfully we could see the fireworks this year. It's a hit-and-miss tradition. Sometimes it is too foggy, sometimes there are too many people, sometimes... But this year was perfect and we arrived at the park just in time to see the fireworks display and then were back home toasting with champagne, eating and watching the most random movie I have ever seen entitled Tampopo. This crazy movie is described on the Internet Movie Database web site as follows: "Tampopo, a widowed noodle chef, is helped to become a first class chef by truck driver Goro and friends. Food is the theme throughout this movie and it includes novel uses of food as erotic toy." It should be noted that truck driver Goro is the cowboy type. There is an egg yolk scene that is too disturbing to relay here. I'm not sure when it became a good idea to watch strange Japanese flicks but I can say this is not the first one we've viewed with the Dormers. That being said Rick and Anya also introduced us to Creature Comforts. Claymation is on a comeback, I can feel it. With more food and drinks, we finished the evening with a game of Ticket to Ride, replacing the traditional Risk game of yesteryear. Having already played the game, Rick and Anya were privy to strategery (thank you, Mr. President) that Darren and I were not. But we caught on quickly. If memory serves, by the end of the weekend Anya was in first place, Darren in second, me in third, and Rick was left bringing up the rear.

Of course, after an evening of drinking and staying up late it makes the most sense to get up and head to the mountain for vigorous exercise. That's right. We went snowshoeing! It was totally awesome! Okay, it is probably true we didn't snowshoe the proper way - there was a lot of sliding going on - but there were boards strapped to our shoes and we were on snow. Darren and I are now thinking we'll have to spend our REI dividend on snowshoes of our own. If the faces of the dogs on the trail are any indication, we're confident Beauty the wonder dog would love to join us in the snow. We started to head up because, well, you're at a mountain, where the hell else are you going to go? And when we hit a dead end, the butt-sledding began. The day was littered with snowball fights and random jumps into snowbanks, and ended with the construction of snowmen. Thanks to Rick for sending over the photos of the day, a few of which I am including below. To sum up, we have said our goodbyes to 2005 and welcomed in the new year. Here's hoping 2006 is the best year yet. :)

The pic is foggy because the camera was hit with a snowball.

Mysterious wildlife we encountered on our journey.

My Canadian husband is so frickin' cute!

Rick being pelted by snowballs.

This is one of those "the group was last seen headed up..." type pics.

Our snowmen, Ralph, with a snownose, twig arms, and moss hair - nice!

Our Blog Spot

That's right! We're on Blogger now. We had to make the move because the makeshift blog-like environment on our web site was becoming large and unwieldy.